Backhouse and Medema on the definition of economics: some critical observations
by Khandakar Q. Elahi
International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education (IJPEE), Vol. 13, No. 4, 2022

Abstract: This paper critically reviews Professors Backhouse and Medema's article - 'On the definition of economics' - published in the Journal of Economic Perspective (2009), which offers a state-of-art survey of the century-old definitional debate. Unlike other similar articles, BM makes some novel (and eye-brow-raising) conclusions: 1) modern economists do not subscribe to a homogeneous definition of their subject; 2) this disagreement does not necessarily pose a problem; 3) different authors use different definitions to direct the way they want the subject to move and influence its practice. I argue that their statements are linguistically and epistemologically weak and that they have failed to substantiate their claims.

Online publication date: Wed, 31-May-2023

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